Best Trackers in Africa Today?

I'd be interested in hearing firsthand opinions about who are the best trackers in Africa today? I'm not talking about the legends recorded in books, but rather people you've actually worked with who know what they are doing. It could be local tribesmen, or alternatively it could be guides working for the safari and hunting companies. It could also be guides or park rangers in certain African parks.

Life in Africa is changing very rapidly, and many traditional communities are not maintaining their old ways of life. I have traveled in many of the parks in Kenya, and have generally been surprised that the rangers I met did not have a good knowledge of tracking. This doesn't mean that everyone is bad - but if there are good ones then they are few and far between. Similarly, I suspect that the old traditions of tracking amongst tribes that were once hunters are being lost permanently - which is too bad.

Trackers who have proven themselves in the Zambezi Valley are very impressive. They're all better than I'll ever be, but the most impressive I've seen are from Zimbabwe. Hard, rocky ground with significant relief, yet they can somehow follow an elephant or buffalo for miles. Sometimes you just shake your head in disbelief.

Don't know where this is going but but all trackers I have ever worked with have there own special skill Smiley who could spot a blood spot 100meters before you could even see it. And Owen from Zim he could tell you where to look for game before the game put tracks there not to mention Aleck J Mafuta from the congo who could track a hippo under water in a muddy river going upstream. Each and everyone have a skill that is beyond anything I could ever do and it has been my pleasure to hunt with them all and hope to again.

I have had the pleasure to have hunted with dozens of good Trackers BUT the best three I have been with are Ian Gibson's Ndabelle tracker Robert, Stu Taylors Shona Tracker Davie and Lyndon Stanton's Shangani Tracker Jabalani. All Zimbabwean trackers.
These trackers often learn there trade as children following the Cows and rturning them to the Coral for the night. If they loose a cow, they are in big trouble!
These Trackers are but another reason to use these top PH's.

I'd be interested in hearing firsthand opinions about who are the best trackers in Africa today? I'm not talking about the legends recorded in books, but rather people you've actually worked with who know what they are doing. It could be local tribesmen, or alternatively it could be guides working for the safari and hunting companies. It could also be guides or park rangers in certain African parks.

Life in Africa is changing very rapidly, and many traditional communities are not maintaining their old ways of life. .............. Similarly, I suspect that the old traditions of tracking amongst tribes that were once hunters are being lost permanently - which is too bad.

For sheer hunting skills including spotting and tracking on new ground (not the same old property):
The people and the specific feats:

Xhose, (San) spotted Eland and Kudu in the Kalahari that I have no idea how he saw them. One over distance and the other in cover.

Moosa (Zulu), seeing a bedded Hyena in high yellow grass, repeatedly. If I had not shot it in an opening in the cover I would never have seen it. Tracking Kudu across rocky ground and coming up with the specific animal over distance.

Martin. (Zimbabwean) Dogged determination to hunt/track Eland. The ability to sort it all out over long distances, lose it and reacquire was quite impressive.

I also got to witness two "trackers" in RSA that have either lost the skill, never acquired it or did not care to exert the effort yo use what they may have had. Sadly, I was better. Which is something I never expected to encounter.

A Legend in my own mind!"one hundred grains in the right place is worth a thousand in the wrong." Captain Brocklehurst

i've seen similar accomplishments - but not on the scale you are describing. i do know a guy in Kenya who's pretty good at spotting animals (antelope, lions) in bush and thickets. I've driven past them a number of times, and then he's stopped me and made me go back. The camouflage of the animals can be impressive. so yes, some of these guides do have excellent eyes.

but I would say - based on your description - that Xhose and Martin are in a class by themselves. And that would include Robert, Davie and Jabalani too.

Poni Mokwena and Joe Mokwena both Sotho Gentleman roughly aged at around 50 and 36 years of age, Poni as well as Joe was born on Kwalata in the the Waterberg mountains and as a boy spent his entire days which would become months and later on years and decades tracking the native game of the area, and cattle herding.... Both expert trackers...

They are as good as any Zimbabwean, Tanzanian, Bots or Mozambique tracker, I have hunted with................. They truly are that good.... I do firmly believe that a tracker is pretty much as good as the terrain he knows and spends most his time tracking in... no matter what it is.... this along with his imprinted or rather inherited and self taught observation skill, especially when it comes to attention to detail... something that should not be the way it currently is... interpreting it.... anticipating what could possibly happen, making the next step by putting on foot in front of the other............... and then being right about it...... Not guessing, but rather knowing what each and every species does as well as the way they move.....in many ways a sixth sense if you will...

IMO rough mountain country with plated rock, small gravel rock, big rock and even rock river beds could possibly be some of the toughest terrain to track in...

I honestly don't believe it can be pointed or placed into one specific country, and never will as it is simply silly to try and do so

Some of us have been blessed though.... to hunt and learn from special individuals like these, and very often their skill are the major contributing factors to our success, in all actuality most of the time it is....

well if i get a chance - i will try and spend a few days with these outstanding trackers the next time I am in Africa. it may be the first time that someone has hired a hunting company simply for the pleasure of going out and tracking animals ... but from my point of view - it would be time well spent.

Sgt Magoshe is a game scout in the Bubye Valley Conservancy in Zim who willingly acts as a tracker while accompanying PHs and their hunters. His tracking skills are truly phenomenal. I had "drawn blood" on a waterbuck with a single shot that nipped its brisket (literally we found a single drop of blood - about 50 yards from where it was shot - about the size of this : "0"). He tracked that bull for 3 hrs until dark, then picked up the same track the next morning, all with no blood to trail. In more open spots, if you drew a 3 foot circle you would easily have enclosed a dozen different tracks of multiple species. He found that same animal later in the morning, having covered many winding kilometers. I told the well known PH, John Sharp, of his abilities and John agreed he's one of the best. To me his skills are other-worldly! My wife said watching him track that animal was the most memorable experience of all our safaris, including any game she had ever shot.

Just wanted to add a word of agreement with Nyati, I had the pleasure of hunting with PH Hannes Lamprecht and Jerry several years ago.I have never witnessed that level of tracking ability, before or since.Tracking a particular animal , sometimes on a dead run, wounded or not, was nothing short of amazing. I have many stories I could share about their skills.